Broken Heart, Repaired Soul
by UchihaHyugaGlow
Summary: Naruto and Ino begin to date... horrible plot starter huh?... and Hinata dosen't know what to think, untill she overhears something Sasuke says, and she decides that she wants to know him better. SasuHina please don't flame for the pairing T for swearing
1. Chapter 1

Hello one and all, it's UchihaHyugaGlow here with my first multi-chaptered fic

Hello one and all, it's UchihaHyugaGlow here with my first multi-chaptered fic. This is a re-post, well, kind of. See, I used to have chapters up to five or six, I think, posted. So, I'm sorry to all of my former readers, but I've finished the fic and I'm going to post chapters regularly now, let's say every Friday, 'k? That means two chapters this week, one today and one in a couple of days.

Disclamer: I do not own Naruto in any way, and never will, unless someone decides to sell it on eBay.

**Broken Heart, Repaired Soul**

Hinata was devastated. She felt like her heart had been ripped in two and tossed into the dirt, and all because of Naruto, her beloved. Not that it was completely his fault; he was just too blind to see how much she had loved him. She had chased after him, always keeping her crush a secret admiration that she held deep within herself. She watched him from a distance, entranced by his strength and determination. Many nights she had lay awake and thought quietly to herself about how maybe someday, when they were older of course, he would be sleeping soundly right beside her. Many solitary training sessions she had thought of his vow to never give up to keep herself going. How many times when she was down and beaten has the image of his always smiling face helped her to get up? Was it three thousand, no probably a million. She would have given almost anything for him to notice her just a little bit, given anything at all for him to return her love. And for all that he goes and dates Ino Yamanaka.

Ino Yamanaka. Hinata had always kept a small portion of green envy in the back of her heart for Ino. After all, Ino was all Hinata thought herself not to be. She was strong, confident, beautiful, and not shy in the least bit. No, not shy at all, Ino wasn't afraid to speak up, that was the one thing that Hinata wished more than anything that she had. Although Hinata never saw it coming, Ino and Naruto that is. It seemed that all Ino ever wanted was Sasuke, and thought that she would get him too, now that Sakura had given up on him for Lee. Yep, all that was ever on Ino's mind was Sasuke, or it was.

Despite the fact that all she wanted to do was curl up and cry Hinata had to presume life as normal, and life as normal meant team eight. When Hinata arrived at practice Kurenai shot her a disapproving glance, a sign that she was late. Akamaru jumped out of Kiba's arms and bounded over to Hinata, tail wagging faster than the eye could follow.

"H-Hello Akamaru," Hinata said with a sweet smile blooming across her face, "How are y-you today?" Akamaru replied with a few sounds that she knew only Kiba could understand. Hinata's smile grew a bit bigger; Akamaru always knew how to cheer her up, even if only just a little bit.

Her relief was short lived though, because as soon as training started she thought about Naruto. A lump began to grow in the back of her thought, but she wouldn't cry, no, not in front of the team. Hinata did manage to keep her tears back, but missed most of the targets, thrown by Kiba, meant for her to hit with her kunai. Shino glanced at her with his eyebrows raised. _Damn it, _thought Hinata to herself, _Come on just focus!_ But these thoughts did nothing to keep her mind up to speed with what was going on around her.

Walking home after practice Hinata felt like a zombie. Her mind was numb with sadness and pain, and she was only finding her way by a planned route from somewhere in the back of her mind. Not giving any regard to where she was going, Hinata passed the exact place that she was trying to avoid, Ickiraku Ramen.

"Hey, hey Hinata," a voice called out, the voice was so familiar that it made her heart clench with grief, and she stopped dead in her tracks. "Hey, wait up," called Naruto as he caught up to her, "I've been meaning to ask you abou-" but he cut off when he saw her face. "What's the matter Hinata?" he asked, dumbfounded by the look on her face. Hinata took one look at his worry-filled eyes and ran. It was just her luck that she would run into him here. She ran, and she didn't stop until she reached the Hyuga compound. Hinata bolted into her room and fell onto her bed, tears streaming down her face.

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There, my first chapter. If you absolutely thought it was horrible, then tell me. If I get enough bad reviews then I will stop writing this and remove it. So anyways please review! I apologize also for the short chapters, it gets a bit better later on.

Until next time:

_**UchihaHyugaGlow**_


	2. Chapter 2

Lying in bed that night Hinata's thoughts were jumbled. She thought about Naruto, Ino, and finally love. Why did everything have to be so darn complicated? Wasn't her life already enough of a mess already? She had to work for every little bit of progress that she made, and then there was her family; they didn't care about her in the least bit. The tears came back, and this time there would have been no stopping them even if she wanted to. Hinata cried herself to sleep.

The next morning Hinata woke to find a messenger bird sitting calmly on her window sill. It was from Kurenai, no group practice today, she had had to leave on an urgent mission. Oh well Hinata thought to herself, Now I'll have some time to volunteer at the medical center

She had been helping out at Konoha's medical facility for quite some time now. The young Hyuga girl had decided that battle just wasn't her calling and decided to try her gentle hand at medicine. So far she had been afraid to ask one of the medical ninja to consider tutoring her, so she just volunteered a little here and there. At the pace she was going she had only to pick up a few minor healing jutsu. Buy slow and steady wins the race, and slow was just fine with Hinata.

Finally reaching her destination the young girl opened up the glass double doors and stepped into the bright light. Walking up to the front desk Hinata received warm smiles all around. The receptionist greeted her with a friendly gleam in her eyes, "Hello Hinata-chan, I've missed you and all the work you do, I'm sure all the staff has. You must've been pretty tied up not to come in for so long," Hinata nodded, "Hm, well are you here to do some volunteer work?" Hinata nodded again. The woman's grew bigger and she reached under the desk. Pulling out a clipboard she handed it to Hinata, giving her the job she was to do. "All you need to do is to take these patients their lunches." Hinata scanned the names, spotting one in particular.

"What is Uchiha Sasuke here for this time?" Hinata asked. Sasuke was constantly in and out of the hospital, this time for extreme chakra exhaustion, apparently one chidori too many.

To Hinata this sort of volunteer work came natural; she had done it so many times. Sasuke was next to last on her list, and it took her some time to get to his room, number 381.

As she approached the room she felt a strong chakra other than the one she felt coming from emitting from Sasuke. On an instinct Hinata activated her byakugan. Through the thin wall she saw Kakashi looking for once like he was about to lose his cool.

"If it is so important to you then why are you willing to kill yourself before that goal is even accomplished?" asked Kakashi in a stern voice. Sasuke answered by giving him a cold hard stare and speaking in a dangerous tone.

"You wouldn't understand, I lived my life in the shadow of my older brother waiting to be noticed by my father, trying to be as strong as Itachi. Then finally my father appeared to notice me, and then my whole world was destroyed be the man that I called brother."

Kakashi looked taken aback that Sasuke had talked about that inner piece of himself to anybody, least of all him. But even is it was unexpected he had to reply in some form or fashion.

"Trust your sensei, revenge is always bittersweet." Poof, then he was gone. Hinata was bewildered and amazed that Sasuke had said all that to Kakashi, he had always seemed closed to everybody. Then she had a thought that caused her to blush, she probably shouldn't have overheard this private conversation.

Hinata entered the room with Sasuke's lunch tray in hand. As she set it down on the table next to his bed the Uchiha gave her a death glare. _Does he know that I overheard?_ Hinata asked herself. Embarrassed she hurried out of the room to deliver the last lunch tray.

Walking home that night the Hyuga kept thinking about what Sasuke had said. A thought kept occurring to her, but though she kept pushing it away it was hard to ignore. _He is somewhat similar to me._

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Ho hum, next chapter's up. Short again.

Hope to see everyone next update:

_**UchihaHyugaGlow**_


	3. Chapter 3

Hinata couldn't help but think about what she had heard. She was asking herself questions like, is he as naturally talented as everyone thinks. Maybe if he lived in the shadow of his older brother maybe he worked to catch up? Or, maybe not, maybe Hinata was just wishful thinking. She knew that she should just drop the matter out of her mind and focus on other things. What was the point anyway, most everyone would be his friend if he wanted them to, so why would he notice her anyway? He wouldn't care is they were anything alike, anyway so what if both of their siblings outshined them, at least his was older, hers was younger.

It's not like Hinata would be able to say anything anyway. Even if she did have a burst of courage it wouldn't do her any good, team seven was away on a mission. The good news was that her own sensei was back so that meant that it was back to training.

So a few months went by, slow and normal, Hyuga Hinata's life was exactly the way it always was. There was training, alone and with her team, there was volunteer work at the hospital, and there was trying to impress her father, trying. So she forgot about Sasuke's words, until it happened.

She had done some work at the hospital, Sasuke had been admitted, again, Shino was away on a mission, and not much was happening. It had been a long day and Hinata was very tired, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

As soon as the Hyuga entered the medical center the next day she could tell that something was different. The staff was gathered in small groups of two or three, quietly whispering to each other. Some of them had very shocked expressions on their faces, some worried looks, and some just looked very angry. Hinata was very curious.

Luckily she didn't have to wait long for someone to fill her in; the nurses were always horrible gossipers.

"Uchiha Sasuke has deserted Konoha and left for the Sound Village, and a five man team was sent after him. The team consisted of Uzumaki Naruto, Akimichi Chouji, Hyuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru, and Inuzuka Kiba." Hinata nodded at the woman who had provided the information, turned and headed for the exit. She needed some time to think.

The dark haired girl found herself sitting on a bench in a quiet area of the park, deep in thought. There were many thoughts circulating in her head and she was trying to figure out what to do. Finally the only solution that she could see was to wait for the search party to come back.

Hinata went back to the hospital to numb her mind with some work and to wait. After several long hours the team finally returned. Thankfully they were all alive, two were in critical condition, but they were alive. Luckily Kiba wasn't in horrible condition and was well enough for Hinata to speak to.

After another twenty minutes of waiting Hinata found herself sitting next to Kiba's hospital bed. He willingly answered all of her questions about how the mission went, and how they were doing as far as he knew.

"M-maybe another search party could go out," suggested Hinata, "I could put in a mission request to Hokage-sama…." She trailed off a bit, concentrating more on her twiddling fingers than Kiba.

"Naruto already has, trust me. I heard him arguing with the fifth in the next room, do you realize how thin these walls are, or maybe it's just how loud Naruto is," answered Kiba, "Why do you care so much anyway Hinata?" Hinata's gaze lowered to the ground.

"Oh, I d-don't really, I'd better go, you n-need your rest Kiba-kun," she said as she stood and walked out the door. Kiba wondered for a moment about her odd behavior, but the pain killers pushed the thought towards the back of his mind. He was tired, and grateful for a chance to rest.

Hinata walked down the halls, descended the stairs, and stepped out the door. It was getting dark and as she walked home the pale eyed girl knew what she was going to do.

"I'm going to go after him, tonight." She quietly whispered to herself, and the wind swishing through the trees seemed to agree with her decision.

--

There, next chapter done. I know that the plot has basically stayed with what actually happened during the Sasuke retrieval ark, but I promise that the rest is going to totally be original stuff that you've never read before.

So until then,

_**UchihaHyugaGlow**_


	4. Chapter 4

Whoa, I'm surprised, it didn't take me forever to update this time

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_Can I really do this?_ Hinata asked herself, she was standing at Konoha's gates roughly four hours after her talk with Kiba, fully packed and ready to leave. _I have to do it, nobody else is going to. _She answered he own question, but a hint of doubt still remained.

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The two members of the Aburame clan stood in front of Tsunade's desk, having handed in their mission report they were being filled in on what had occurred while they were away.

"So you see the retrieval mission was a failure and all five members of the search and rescue team have been admitted to the hospital" finished Tsunade. As the men turned to leave, a man burst into the room. From the style of his clothing and the milky appearance of his eyes he looked to be from the Hyuga clan.

"Hokage-sama, a number of traveling equipment and food items have been reported missing in the compound, and not a soul has seen Hinata-san since yesterday morning." The man appeared winded, as if he ran all the way across the village from the Hyuga residence to the Hokage tower.

"What?" Tsunade gasped in wonder, "Why would she do…. She couldn't have possibly thought to go after," she trailed off as the realization of why finally sunk in. "Did Hiashi-sama send you?" She finally asked.

"No," the man admitted, "he actually told nobody to repost her missing; I'd probably be killed if he were to find out that I disobeyed his direct orders." Shino, who had been quietly listening to all that was being said now turned to face the fifth.

"Hokage-sama, I'd like to request that I be sent to retrieve her." He said in a monotone voice. Tsunade just sighed.

"I'm afraid that I'll have to deny your request, we just can't afford to send any shinobi after her in our current state." She replied sadly.

"Understood," Shino stated calmly as he turned to leave the office.

As he descended the stairs Shino willed himself not to run, and to stay calm, at least until he was out of the building. Sure enough, as soon as he was out of the building he lost all sense of self control and ran, as fast as he could towards the hospital. He needed to speak with Kiba.

"Finally after a ten minute wait the nurses let him in to see Kiba. The moment he stepped into the room he asked, "When was the last time that you spoke with Hinata?" For a moment Kiba seemed surprised to see him but then he jumped right in to being, well himself actually.

"Oh, I see how it is; you can't even say a simple 'hello' to your dying team member, can ya?" Kiba said, very overdramatically. Shino shot him a look that told him that he meant for his question to be answered. "Okay, okay calm down. Umm, she was here around the time that visiting hours end, 'bout eight I think, why?"

"Because Kiba, she left the village last night, she went after Uchiha." Shino's voice sounded strained and laced with anger. A look of realization bloomed across the Inuzuka's face.

"You know Shino, now that you mention it; she did seem to have a lot of interest in bringing him back, it was a bit unlike her." That was when Shino's temper finally snapped.

"BAKA! You spoke to her a few hours before she left and you didn't notice her behaving strangely at all?" Shino turned to leave the room.

"Hey don't blame me; it's kind of hard to notice strange behavior when you're pumped full of pain killers!" Kiba yelled at Shino's receding back while gesturing towards the IV needle in his arm.

Shino was already going over the few things that he needed to shove into his weapon pouch before he left. One quick stop at home and he was going after Hinata he would defiantly catch up with her. _Just don't get yourself killed Hinata-chan, I'm coming._

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Oh my goodness, another short chapter! Since the chapters are so short, I'm updating early, next one's on Friday, don't forget! I think the next one's longer….. I think.

Catch ya later:

_**UchihaHyugaGlow **_


	5. Chapter 5

Hinata was getting tired, she hadn't stopped all night. Now, judging by the position of the sun, it was midday. She hoped that she was going the right way; her only directions came from Kiba's description of the mission. Plus, after she crossed the Land of Fire's border she would have to follow the traces of Orochimaru's destruction back to the Sound Village.

Finally Hinata had to stop for a short break, so she settled down on the branch of an oak tree on the edge of a small clearing. The sun was on her face as she lay there, and it caused her to doze off.

She was woken by a rustling coming from the bushes below. The sun's position had hardly changed, so the Hyuga knew that she couldn't have slept for long. The rustle grew louder and Hinata's Byakugan activated upon her instinct. She almost gasped at what her eyes showed her, it was Shino. Instantly Hinata's guard dropped, and she jumped down to confront him.

"S-Shino-kun, you can come out n-now," she stuttered as Shino stepped out into the grassy area, "What are you d-d-doing here?" The girl dropped her gaze and studied the grass around her feet.

Shino stared at her for a moment, then he calmly said, "I've come to take you back to the village." Hinata was quiet for a moment, she knew that someone may have come after her; she just didn't expect it to be her team member. On the other hand, maybe Shino would understand, at least better than a stranger would.

"Why s-should I go back S-Shino-kun?" she whispered quietly, ""N-Nobody there c-cares if I l-live or die, and if they do t-then it's only because of the B-Byakugan, not m-me. I have m-my reasons f-f-for leaving and it shouldn't m-matter because n-nobody c-cares." For a moment Shino looked stunned by the Hyuga's words and there was a long pause.

When Shino finally broke the silence, his words sounded hesitant and unsure, "I……I have always cared… cared for you, and….. and even l…loved you Hinata-chan." Hinata was shocked, had Shino just said that? _Surely he doesn't mean that, he's only saying that to get me to go back with him, it's his mission. _Hinata tried to convince herself, but Shino looked sincere, embarrassment plastered on his usually straight face.

She knew she needed to reply, but her tongue felt too heavy to allow her to speak.

The next few moments Hinata was only vaguely aware of, one moment she was looking at the slightly embarrassed look on Shino's face, and the next, upon instinct she was closing her eyes and moving forward to meet Shino's on-coming lips. Then, in just one more moment, everything changed again.

The Hyuga's eyes were almost closed and her thoughts were reeling, until she felt a heavy weight descended onto her, and she struggled to keep it lifted. Her eyes shot open to see Shino's body slumped against her. A bloody stain was spreading across his back, seeding from a kunai knife buried in all the way up to its handle. She screamed and heard a cold-hearted snicker from the trees.

Suddenly, rage exploded within Hinata, she wasn't scared, she wasn't sad, she felt nothing but hate, something that she had never truly felt before. She whirled around to face the direction that the snicker had come from, activated her dojutsu, and saw the form of a person knelt down in a holly bush. The ninja bore a headband with the symbol of the Sound Village.

Ripping into her shuriken holster Hinata pulled out several, and flung then into the bush. She heard a satisfying gurgle, her aim was perfect.

Hinata heard the bushes rustle on the other side of the clearing, and saw another shinobi jump out into the open, and another, and another, she was up against three.

Charging, the Hyuga slammed her gentle fist into the gut of one of the sound shinobi; he hacked up blood and fell to the ground. She felt a sting across her left shoulder, and turned to confront the attacker. Fully facing the two remaining opponents Hinata saw the fist coming and tried to block, but she wasn't fast enough.

The blow sent her flying backwards and before she knew it the ninja had bound her ankles to her wrists with thick wire used to lay traps. She spit out blood and looked up at the sound-nins, she recognized one of them.

The man standing over her had white hair tied up into a ponytail and wore glasses, which he now pushed up further onto the bridge of his nose. Kabuto. She had seen him during the chunin exams, but hadn't he worn the mark of the leaf village then? Hinata's mind struggled to dredge up memories that seemed so far away.

Now Kabuto looked down and spoke to her, "You killed two of my three men, impressive, but make no mistake, you won't be able to face me and live, so don't try anything." He smirked at her, and then spoke again, "You posses the Byakugan, Orochimaru-sama will be pleased with this new kekkei genkai to experiment with."

With that said he barked some kind of an order to the one remaining shinobi, who was raiding the fallen Shino's weapon pouch, and turned to leave.

The other ninja walked over, gagged her, and then slung the Hyuga over his shoulder hurrying to catch up with the already retreating Kabuto.

As Hinata caught a last glimpse of her fallen teammate, the rage she had felt so strongly just moments before drained away and was replaced with grief. Tears started streaming down her cheeks. Aburame Shino, her comrade and friend, was dead. And she couldn't help but blame herself. _It's all your fault; it's all your fault._

_--_--

Whoops, I guess I lied in my last author's note, sorry 'bout that. I do know for sure that the next chapter's longer. (That's actually a fact, I swear!)

With a longer chapter next time:

_**UchihaHyugaGlow**_


	6. Chapter 6

Hinata didn't remember the entire trip to the sound village, only bits and pieces. Maybe the ninja had drugged her, because she had only been half conscious, only vaguely aware of her surroundings. She remembered being jarred as her captors carried her through the trees. She remembered the sound-nins slowing down, as if to a walk, and the air growing colder. She remembered falling to the ground; presumably she was in a cell of sorts. Finally she blacked out with the feel of the cold stone against her cheek.

She awoke with the side of her head feeling as if it was on fire. Groaning, she slowly sat up and opened her eyes. No change, the place was pitch black, and it made Hinata feel very small and helpless.

Taking a deep breath she tried to stand up, and immediately sat back down. The pressure on her head came as a painful surprise, almost unbearable; perhaps one of her healing jutsu would help. Concentrating on the palm of her hand Hinata tried to conjure up the familiar green glow that she had practiced so many times before. It didn't come.

Hinata frowned; she could feel her chakra, so it wasn't gone, so why couldn't she use her healing jutsu? Then for the first time the Hyuga noticed something unfamiliar on her right wrist, a type of band. She tugged at it with her left hand, but it didn't even move, pulling harder she found that it still wouldn't budge, and she soon gave up.

Grinding her teeth, she attempted again to stand, stopping halfway up to get used to the pain. Finally standing all the way up Hinata staggered and fell towards the right, but instead of falling to the ground as she had expected her flailing arms painfully connected with a stone wall. _So I've found the wall _the Hyuga thought sarcastically to herself.

Then she got an idea, and mentally slapped herself for not thinking of it before.

Clasping her hands together, she readied herself. "Byakugan" she whispered. Looking around, she realized the room was just as dark as before, her dojutsu wouldn't activate after all.

Sitting down and taking a deep breath the girl closed her eyes and tried to think. So, she was caught, by the sound ninja no doubt but why was the question. Hinata searched her brain, what was it that Kabuto had said? Oh, right, the byakugan, she was supposed to be an experimentation subject.

A lump rose in her throat and tears started to well up in her eyes. _No_ Hinata thought to herself as she swallowed hard, _Rule of the shinobi, show no emotion._ But despite these thoughts, a single tear fell anyway.

Then a muffled sound interrupted her thoughts, footsteps. Sitting up straight and wiping her eyes she faced the direction of the sound, that must mean that was where the door was located.

The footsteps got louder and louder and then started to die away, and the Hyuga let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. But steps started to sound again and soon the sound of a key in a lock could be heard.

The door opened with an eerie creaking sound and a small crack of dim light cut through the gloom of her cell. Blinking, Hinata tried to adjust to the shift in the lighting, and when she was finally able to see around the spots, she looked up at the person standing in the doorway.

Her breath hitched, the person standing in the doorway was none other than Uchiha Sasuke.

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Everything was so dark, so cold. He tries to move but the task is impossible, he tries to call out, but it is in vain. He feels numb all over and his life is playing in his head, good memories and bad.

And he knows that he's dying.

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"What are you gaping at kunoichi?" Sasuke asked, glaring. Hinata stared back at him, trying to keep a brave face. Her lip trembled slightly, and she hoped that Sasuke hadn't seen, but of course he did.

"Scared, you probably should be, because Orochimaru-sama has assigned me to be your interrogator," he paused for a moment to savor the look of shock on her face, "Oh, don't look so surprised kunoichi, you must know a great deal of clan's secrets, along with possessing the byakugan, you'll tell us all you know before we experiment with you." He continued to smirk at her, but then his features turned into a frown, and he spoke to her again, "Tell me, how did you come to be in a position that allowed you to be caught by Kabuto-sama anyway?"

Hinata swallowed and spoke in a very small quavering voice, "I-I came l-looking f-for you S-Sasuke-s-san."

Sasuke snorted, "Please, you mean to tell me that the Hokage sent one, one _pathetic_ girl after me, she must be desperate."

The Hyuga's eyes turned towards the stone floor, but the smallest spark of anger compelled her to speak again, "H-Hokage-sama d-didn't send m-me, I c-came on m-my own." At this comment Sasuke's eyes flashed with confusion, but his face soon turned cold again, and without another world he backed out of the cell and shut the door.

Hinata heard the key in the lock and receding footsteps. Then she leaned back against the grimy wall, curling her knees to her chest, and began to think. One question above all rang in her mind: _Why did I come after him?_

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Just when the cold felt like it was about to completely take over, a small hint of warmth invades, he feels his body moving, and then all fades to black.

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Sasuke slammed the door to his room shut and flopped down on the bed, the day had been tiresome. Of course Orochimaru had put him to work and started his training as soon as he had arrived, which had been earlier that morning. He was starting to think that his three planned years here would feel like prison.

He blinked, prison, just like the Hyuga girl that he was supposed to get information from. Sasuke knew who she was, he had seen he training with Inuzuka and Aburame. But for some reason she had always looked and seemed weaker than the others, and he was extremely surprised that she had managed to kill two sound ninja.

There was something about her that intrigued the Uchiha, but he couldn't lay his finger on it, and he didn't really want to think too hard about it. He had shunned people, turned his back on all his friends, and surely didn't need any new ones to disappoint. But still the way she had acted when he went to scare her, she said she had come looking for him without orders. Why?

Suddenly Sasuke stood up and grabbed his weapon pouch, a bit of training would surely take his mind off of such meaningless things.

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He was dreaming, reliving one moment over and over again. A girl was being carried away by a ninja, he got just one last glimpse, and then everything was dark.

Sitting straight upright the boy yelled out, "Hinata!" He looked around, where was he? Where was this place, it was so unfamiliar, and everything was extremely bright.

Then a woman ran into the room, she had a look of shock on her face. After staring for a moment, she finally spoke,

"Aburame-san please lay back down. You should have been asleep for at least another day; your wounds are very serious.

The boy blinked, Aburame, now he remembered. But the question was, how had he gotten here? The last thing he remembered was watching the sound-nins carrying Hinata away.

"How did I come to be here?" asked Shino, he was still confused.

"Oi, you should really go back to sleep, but I'm guessing you wouldn't comply with that, so I'll go and fetch Hokage-sama." The nurse rushed out of the room, muttering to herself about how the patients never listened to her.

Shino heard some angry shouts, a few crashes and clatters, and one boom, and the Hokage walked into his room, she didn't look very happy.

Tsunade glared at him for a moment before she started to speak. "Aburame Shino, what in the world possessed you to leave the village, when you had strict orders to not follow Hyuga no less!? Should I have my medical staff inspect your head, because there is no logical way for a shinobi such as yourself to justify your actions!" Trying to seen unfazed by the fifth's words, Shino started to speak, but didn't even get one word in before Tsunade started to speak again.

"You are a valuable shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village; there is no excuse for departing." Tsunade finished, adding a don't-mess-with-me glare that said there would be a severe punishment for challenging her authority.

Shino glowered back at her, suddenly furious with his leader, but he soon gave up.

His head lowered and finally Tsunade turned to leave. Still not looking up, the Aburame spoke quietly, "I apologize Hokage-sama, I just couldn't leave Hinata-san alone."

The woman's face softened a bit, she knew all too well what it was like to lose someone close to you. She had opened the door and stepped halfway out before she thought to say, "Don't worry yourself Aburame, just sleep now, your wounds need time to heal. I'm sure that we'll find some way to bring her back." _'And Sasuke as well'_

--

See! I told you! This one's longer….. a bit, but a bit longer IS longer, so there.

At a loss for more words:

_**UchihaHyugaGlow**_


	7. Chapter 7

Hinata awoke due to a sudden change of light. She looked up groggily and wiped the sleep from her eyes to see Sasuke once again standing in the door of her cell. Feeling as if she was shrinking under his unwavering gaze, Hinata pulled her knees to her chest and hid her face.

But suddenly she felt a jerk on her wrist and was pulled to her feet.

"Come with me, don't struggle or I might just kill you," Sasuke growled into her ear. Hinata squeaked a little in fear and then allowed the Uchiha to drag her into and down the hall.

Suddenly he turned to the right and they entered a small room, its only furnishings were a small metal chair. '_This must me the interrogation chamber,' _thought Hinata to herself. Taking a deep breath to prepare, Hinata turned to face Sasuke. _'The least I can do for Konoha is keep quiet.' _

"Sit."

Hinata sat and looked down at the floor.

"Are you comfortable, kunoichi?" Sasuke asked. The questioned girl fought the almost unbearable urge to look up at the Uchiha. There was something about his voice, something smooth and melodic, yet still underplayed with the scorn and venom of a true interrogator. '_This is going to be bad' _thought Hinata, squeezing her eyes shut tight. _I can make it through this, I'm stronger than everyone thinks, I'm stronger…… Maybe I'll be killed quickly.' _She swallowed the lump that rose up in her throat. _'I guess it's a good thing that I came, everyone will be better off without me.'_

A sudden sharp pain in her leg snapped her out of her thoughts.

Hinata gasped in shock and looked up at Sasuke, eyes widened. All that greeted her was a face with eyes as cold as flint chips. The side of his mouth was turned up with a grim satisfaction.

The girl then looked down and was met with the sight of blood slowly oozing down her leg from a gash across her lower shin. On an impulse, Hinata pressed her hand on it in an attempt to staunch the flow.

"I'll say it one more time kunoichi," she heard Sasuke speak, his quiet tone dangerous, "Look at me while I'm speaking to you or it'll be more than you leg that gets flayed next time." Just the way he spoke was enough to convince Hinata, and so she slowly looked up at him. She gulped and continued to watch him from under her lashes, trying to look as brave as she knew she really was deep down.

"Now, you'll answer a couple of my questions." Sasuke spat, angered by the way that she was watching him. The Hyuga was frightened, but also very determined not to give up any of her clan's, and therefore Konoha's secrets.

She took a deep breath and in a shaky, yet resolute filled voice, spoke to her would-be tormenter. "I p-promise yo-you U-U-Uchiha S-Sasuk-ke, that I-I'm n-not going to t-t-tell you any-anything."

The way she spoke, scared but yet sure of herself, made something stir inside Sasuke, and for a moment he hesitated. For some reason, at the thought of hurting this shy-eyed girl again made his insides recoil. She looked so innocent, almost like a child that didn't deserve the punishment she was about to receive, and Sasuke felt a strange feeling bubble up inside him, something that he could remember feeling as a small child, but couldn't quite name.

'_What in the hell am I thinking?' _Sasuke asked himself, _'I am an avenger, I want power, and no emotions will get in my way.'_

The Uchiha pushed away all these thoughts and pulled out a particularly sharp-looking kunai knife. Sasuke took a small, shuffling step towards Hinata and said, "Now, first question."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Tsunade sat at her desk in her office in the topmost room of the Hokage tower. The floor was littered with crumpled pieces of paper, the wastebasket overflowing. She was furiously scribbling something onto yet another piece of paper. Then she stopped, read what she'd written, and crumpled the paper, allowing it to join its fallen brethren on the ground.

Growling in frustration, Tsunade swept all of the remaining papers from her oak desk onto the floor. She then opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of sake. The blonde woman then proceeded to pop the cork and downed the bottle's contents in a matter of seconds.

For a moment, she seemed to calm down, and she pulled out another sheet of paper, writing something on it.

The Hokage smiled, set her pen down and read over what she had written. She smiled even bigger as she read it over and over, her fists clenching, crumpling the edges she had a hold of, her arms began to shake.

All of a sudden, her arms stopped shaking, and Tsunade sat utterly still, save for one solitary eye twitch.

Then she exploded.

"GOD DAMMIT!!" the paper was ripped in two, crumpled and thrown at the trash can. The two pieces unbalanced the tower of papers that was sticking out of the basket. This just happened to irritate the woman further, and soon the can was flung strait through the wall. Her empty sake bottle shattered as it too was flung, this time at the door. The door then suffered a crack when her rolling chair was flung at it as well. The door held up though, there was a good reason that Shizune replaced the old door with a heavy oak one.

"Why can I not think of anything?!" yelled the fifth in a voice so loud that it threatened to shatter windows. Tsunade then screamed a string of curses so violent and so loud, that mothers on the street below covered their children's ears. "Arg!" she screamed, slamming her fist down on the desk, hard.

A loud shattering sound was heard all around the village. The woman looked down with disgust at the pile of splinters and papers that was formerly her very solid oak desk.

Tsunade spat on the wood, just as the door opened and a very worried Shizune burst into the room. "Tsunade-sama, what happened?" she screeched.

"I think I need a new desk." Tsunade mumbled. St this, Shizune sighed and looked around the now ruined office.

"I believe that you also need a new chair, door, wall, and wastebasket Tsunade-sama," Shizune stated with an exasperated tone, "What made you so angry in the first place though?"

The Hokage frowned, "I was just trying to think of a way to fetch back Uchiha and Hyuga, all without weakening the Leaf's defenses, therefore causing mass panic and destruction." With that said, she bent down to pick up the chair, which had hit the door with so much force that it had bounced back. Setting it upright, she turned to sit down. But as soon as she made contact with the padded seat, it fell apart, leaving her sitting on a pile of wood and papers.

Tsunade looked solemnly up at Shizune and blinked, then slowly asked, "Can I never win?"

"Ummm, Tsunade-sama, if I may suggest taking council with the elders and jonin? Perhaps that could help you with your problem."

The Hokage jumped up with surprising speed, "Wonderful idea Shizune! I'll try that right away!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"You are surprisingly stubborn," Sasuke said in a quiet, monotone voice, "No matter, you'll break soon enough." His last words echoed until they were cut off by the sound of Hinata's cell door slamming shut. The darkness engulfed her once again, and even though she couldn't see them, she could feel the cuts, gashed, and bruises burning and oozing blood all over her body.

As the Uchiha's footsteps receded, the girl let her tears fall. Hinata ha learned two things that day, she couldn't use her chakra due to a small cuff placed on her wrist, and the quick death that she thought night happen was out of the question. She would be tortured until she broke, hurt just enough for her to be in great pain, but never enough to kill her. After Orochimaru got what he wanted, she would be turned into a test subject.

The Hyuga couldn't help but let a feeling of helplessness seep through her. _'What if I'm not strong enough, how will I ever protect my village?' _

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

As Sasuke entered his room, he slammed the door closed as hard as he could manage. He was furious, more pissed than he had ever been in his entire life. And there was a catch, he was mad at himself.

The Uchiha prodigy stood in the middle of his room, clenching and unclenching his fists, shoulders shaking with rage. He was so mad, that he didn't even know why he got angry in the first place, and this ticked him off even more.

Sasuke charged across the room, fist raised. He hit the stone wall several times over with all his might, while grunting out words, timed with each punch. "What……the…..hell……is…….the….matter…..with……me!?"

Panting ever so slightly, more from anger than from exhaustion, Sasuke turned and plopped down on the bed. He was calming down a bit, and his mind was clearing. Now he could think a little bit better.

'_Now, why was I mad again?' _Sasuke asked himself. He closed his eyes and concentrated on thinking. An image of Hyuga Hinata, cut, bloody, and bruised flashed into his mind's eye. _'That Hyuga girl,' _he thought, _'but then why am I mad at myself?'_

Then he understood why he was angry, it was because he had hurt the girl. For some reason unknown to him, seeing her injured had made him want to hurt whoever had done those things to her.

He clenched his fists, and immediately unclenched them when he was welcomed with a stinging pain. Sasuke looked down at his hands, the knuckles were badly scraped and blood was oozing down his hands. He laughed bitterly.

_'Huh, I guess I got my wish,' _he smirked coldly as he thought; '_I hurt the person who injured that Hyuga. What was her name again…..? Hinata, yea, it was Hinata.'_

--

Hey, sorry that the chapter was up so late, it's 8:30 right now, but hey, it's still Friday right. Not really much to say this time around, so, reviews please!

Finally got my chapter up:

_**UchihaHyugaGlow**_


	8. Chapter 8

Tsunade smiled as she walked into her newly remodeled office followed by Shizune. She stepped up to her new desk and sat down, picking up a folder as she did. The blonde took a deep breath and smacked herself repeatedly over the head with the paper in her hand. "Well, that was a big waste of my time," Tsunade declared loudly.

Shizune winced and sighed, she was out brilliant ideas. Then she heard her lady's voice, "Well, I'm gonna have to do this the old fashioned way," the fifth said.

With that, Tsunade flipped open a book and began skimming through the pages. She started mumbling to herself, "If we're gonna raid the Sound Village, we need to find it first……. tracking specialists…. one or two ANBU maybe? I hope nobody decides to attack while we have shinobi away…"

Shizune gasped, "B-but, my lady, I-"

"Shhh!" Tsunade said, "I'm trying to study!" The Hokage's assistant however, was not convinced, "You should really-"

"I SAID SHHH!" yelled Tsunade, "Dismissed!" Quickly, Shizune ran from the room.

Tonton chose that moment to look up from her hiding spot in the corner. She gave a confused "Oink" in Tsunade's direction. "YOU TOO!" shouted the hokage. The small creature turned and bolted from the room.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Hinata grimaced at the beam of light that entered her cell, both because of the sting it brought to her eyes, and because her five days in the sound told her what it would mean. To the torture chamber she would go, to face Uchiha Sasuke, the object of her current confusion.

"Hn," Sasuke said as she stood. He wouldn't admit it, but a small part of him felt bad for hurting her. The walls in his room faced ever growing danger, and he had to wrap his knuckles in training tape to hide his show of weakness.

Pushing Hinata into the chamber, Sasuke watched her stumbling steps, resisting the urge to reach out and steady her. He felt the overwhelming urge to say her name. Then, the Uchiha realized that he had never actually spoken the girl's name aloud before. "Hinata," he murmured it without thinking.

Quickly, he closed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to clear away the weakness. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Hinata was warily staring at him, questions in her pale eyes. Their eyes met, and the Uchiha saw a flash of terror on her face, but though she visible bit her lip, she did not look away.

Without his permission, Sasuke's hand started to reach forward, but he jerked it back. This action caused the Hyuga to shiver, probably in fear, but her gaze was still stuck to his. Making a small, disgusted sound in the back of his throat and turned his back from the girl, painfully tearing away his gaze.

He closed the cell door and said one word, "Sit." The Hyuga complied and Sasuke pulled out a senbon needle. He roughly grabbed her arm and proceeded to push the needle through the fabric of her jacket, pausing after it had just barely penetrated into her skin. He looked her straight in the face, "Tell me the shifts that the Hokage works at the Konoha hospital, you will answer me Hyuga."

Hinata squeezed her eyes shut as she senbon was shoved farther into her arm. She heard Sasuke exhale before he jabbed the needle violently into her arm, she felt it come clean through the other side of her arm. The Uchiha reached under her arm and yanked it from her flesh, then he stepped back. "Feel free to take a look at your arm now," he said.

The Hyuga girl hesitated, but then pulled up her sleeve and looked down at the bleeding hole in her arm. A dark, purple-black-blue bruise was quickly and visible spreading in a blotchy circle around the place Sasuke had stabbed her. "P-Poison," she whispered, turning her fearful eyes on the young Uchiha.

"It won't kill you, just leave that bruise to spread over the entirety of your body, you'll talk soon enough." He answered her silent question.

_'He is right,'_ Hinata thought, reaching to grip the place on her arm that was already beginning to sear with liquid fire. Then the girl lowered her eyes to the floor so that Sasuke wouldn't see the raw fear and pain in her eyes.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sasuke led Hinata back to her cell. He closed the door and left the girl to deal with her spreading bruise.

It was starting to get late. The only one thought was in Sasuke's head, and that was sleep. As soon as he reached his highly anticipated bed, his thoughts turned back to Hinata, or more accurately, guilt for harming Hinata. The poison he had used on her was specially engineered by Kabuto; it was the first of three poisons that he was supposed to be used on the girl. Sasuke would know how much pain the girl was in; he had tried the poison out from sheer curiosity, but within an hour had taken the antidote.

Finally, the Uchiha jumped out of bed and grabbed a kunai knife, slamming the door as he exited his room.

0o0o0o0o0

Hinata was lying on the stone floor, staying very still. She had used up a lot of her energy writing in pain, and now she dared not move. The bruising had spread from her arm down her fingertips and farther up her shoulder, going all the way across her chest and down past her breast to slow and now the line rested across the middle of her stomach. The bruises stung like fire, and she could feel her heart beat painfully everywhere they had spread.

There were quick, quiet footsteps outside of her cell. The keys rattled in the lock. Hinata wanted to compose herself, but the pain was too great for her to even begin to try.

All of a sudden, Sasuke was kneeling over her, kunai knife in hand. She closed her eyes tight, thinking of the village she let down. Then, the girl felt rough calloused fingers, cool against her burning hot skin, lift her wrist up. The cool metal of a weapon pressed to her skin and slid underneath the cuff that was suppressing her chakra, cutting it. It slid from her wrist and fell to the floor, Hinata opened her eyes a slit in just enough time to see the Uchiha boy snatch the cuff and shove it into his pocket.

She looked up at him with confused, tear-stained eyes. For a moment Hinata thought she caught a flicker of tenderness in his eyes. Then Sasuke pulled a vial out of his pocket, it contained a light blue clouded mixture. He unscrewed the lid and held it to her lips. "Drink," he commanded. She did as he said, the liquid tasted strange and it felt slimy and thick in her mouth.

Hinata closed her eyes and tried to think about what was happening. Then, she heard a ripping sound, it echoed around the small cell. She felt the Uchiha wrap something around her wrist.

Then she heard his footsteps and opened her eyes to watch him disappear through the door. Already she felt better, the pain of her bruises was starting to recede, and it no longer hurt to breathe.

Looking down at her wrist, Hinata saw that the chakra-suppressing cuff had been replaced with a strip of cloth the same dark blue color. _'This must be off of his shirt,' _she thought, _'And that liquid, was it the antidote? Why remove the cuff?' _Then, a theory began to form in her mind. _'My healing jutsu, I can use it now, does this mean he feels bad for harming me?'_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Inuzuka Tsume and Hana crouched in the bushes with their ninja-dogs. They were looking down over the rocks at the entrance to the village Hidden in the Sound.

"Found you," Tsume growled under her breath, "Come Hana, we must make our report to Hokage-sama." At a nod from Hana, the two leapt up into the trees, closely followed by their dogs.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After she awoke the next morning, (she could tell it was morning be the meager breakfast tray sat just inside her door) Hinata felt a mix of emotions. She was still greatly confused by Sasuke's actions the previous day.

Footsteps sounded and stopped and were followed by the familiar rattle of keys. The girl stood before the door could open and faced the entryway. The exact person that had been confusing Hinata as of late walked in.

For just a moment, Sasuke looked surprised to see the Hyuga on her feet, but it quickly passed. He jerked his head to the side, indicating that she should come, just like everyday.

Today though, Sasuke seemed a little different to Hinata. He was more cautious, it was hard to tell though, she could have been imagining it. The poison on the needles was different though, and it sent fresh waves of pain through the Hyuga girl's body.

That night, just as the night before, Sasuke came to her cell with a vial of liquid, this time yellow and sickly sweet tasting. The pain melted away as the presumed antidote took effect. Soon, Hinata was able to stand again.

She looked towards the door and gasped in surprise when realized that Sasuke still stood there. He studied her carefully, onyx eyes carefully guarded. The Hyuga looked at Sasuke but her gaze quickly shifted to his feet, a blush spreading across her face.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sasuke stood just inside the doorway of the Hyuga's cell, carefully studying her. A blush colored her face, and she looked down at the floor near his feet, he quirked an eyebrow at her strangeness.

The girl swallowed so loudly that he was able to hear it. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and stuttering, "T-Th-Thank you, U-Uchiha-san."

"Hmph," Sasuke scoffed and turned to leave. As he stepped out of the door he turned his head, "You shouldn't be here Hyuga."

After he closed the door Sasuke shook his head. _I'm becoming soft._

--

Okay, okay, I know I'm in major trouble. I REALLY should have gotten this up a LOOOOOONG time ago, I know….. But truth be told I just blew it off. -_-; Please accept my apologies! I was actually thinking of abandoning this story, and Fanfiction in general, 'cause I've been busy writing original stuff anyway. I haven't even logged on since way before they redid the site…. In fact, I'll probably quit fanfiction after I post the rest of this story…. But who knows, maybe my love for Naruto will prevail and I'll pick it back up…. Maybe. So anyway, the rest will be up ASAP(or whenever I stop lazing around)


	9. Chapter 9

Umm….. I don't even know what to say to all the people that read this story. I think I quit fanfiction. But, some random urge to pick this story up and finish typing it has come to me…. Well. Here it is I guess.

**Chapter 9**

Ten shinobi stood at Konohagakure's gates, ready to depart. Lady Hokage herself stood before them, giving some last minute instructions.

"Remember," she said, "I do not wish for any of you to die out there, so please retreat if necessary. Your targets are Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Hinata."

Naruto bounced up and down on his toes, eager to leave. "I'm gonna bring that bastard back," he muttered, "And take down the creep that lured him there in the first place." He looked up, and Tsunade was looming over him, hazel eyes giving out a glare meant to kill.

"Do NOT engage Orochimaru!" she barked sharply, and then promptly turned to leave. Stopping suddenly however, she turned and said, "That's an order Naruto." She continued to walk, and soon was out of sight.

Tsume and Hana then took the lead, taking the first steps out of the village. Following them were five ANBU, Naruto, Neji, and Shino.

Sasuke was lying on the ground, bloody and unable to move. His second stage crawled back into the curse seal, the stain of evil retreated. Kabuto smirked and picked him up, slinging him carelessly over his shoulder.

"Are you trying to kill him Orochimaru-sama?" the medic-nin asked as he walked off.

The snake sanin laughed, "He is too weak, and I will make him strong." He made a handseal, and disappeared, there were things he needed to attend to.

Hinata heard keys in the lock and she looked up, expecting to see Sasuke.

Instead, Orochimaru himself was behind that door. The snake sanin licked his lips and glared at Hinata from behind silted eyes. "Apparently Sasuke-kun is still attached to his village, he has been far too soft with you girl," he hissed, "Now, you will tell me what I want to know. And then you will die."

For a split second there was silence in the cell, only the beating of Hinata's heart broke it. Orochimaru made a handseal and an uncountable number of snakes flew from his sleeves, slamming the girl into the wall.

Hinata became trapped beneath a mass of writhing, struggling coils, and then they became still. The snakes held her arms and legs together, allowing no movement except for the slight pivot of her neck, the pressure across her chest threatened to cut off her breathing if she struggled. She squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip so hard that she tasted the sharp metallic tang of her own blood.

Hinata felt cool fingers roughly grip her chin and jerk her head up. "Open your eyes. Girl," Orochimaru's mellow voice sang.

She let out a small squeak of fear, but closed her eyes even tighter. The bony tips of the sanin's fingers dug even tighter into her jaw, but still she refused to open her eyes.

Orochimaru hissed and let go of the helpless Hyuga, only to slam his other hand straight into her nose, which broke with a sickening crunch.

A gasp of pain escaped Hinata's throat and her eyes shot open. She found herself staring into Orochimaru's hypnotic yellow eyes and she was unable to tear her gaze away. "Pity," said the sound leader, "You truly don't have any useful information you can share with me. I can see that in your eyes."

A sadistic chuckle escaped the man's lips as he pulled out a kunai knife. "Kabuto's experiments really can be so boring for me, so maybe I'll just perform a small experiment of my own right now," he licked the edge of the knife, "Think of it as punishment for softening Sasuke-kun."

Hinata watched, horrified as Orochimaru pulled his kunai. The blood was pounding so loudly in her own ears that she couldn't hear all of what he was saying. "Pity…. Your punishment…. Sasuke." Her mind swam, 'Sasuke, please be okay," was the last thought she had as the snake sanin advanced on her, knife raised.

Orochimaru pressed the cold metal tip of his weapon against the skin of Hinata's eyelid. He smirked coldly and plunged the knife straight into her eye.

Hinata screamed.

"Stay in a group. We don't need any heroics," said Tsume to her group of shinobi, "We just want to get in and get out." Everyone nodded and readied their weapons, then the group started towards the entrance of the Village Hidden in the Sound.

Sasuke's eyes opened slowly and he groaned. The medical wing. Again. He quickly sat up and looked around, he was alone. Good, Kabuto was a prick; at least he didn't have to deal with him right now.

The Uchiha quickly strapped on his sandals and headed for the door.

That was when he heard the scream, and then the explosion. 'What the hell is going on?' When he pulled the door open sound ninja were streaming towards the source of the explosion. Over the crappy intercom system Kabuto's voice rang out, "Leaf shinobi, ten in total in the east wing, last reported around 25 meters from the exit."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes toward the east wing, but decided that it was better not to get involved. 'But there was still that scream….' Thought the Uchiha, and he quickly headed towards the west wing to check it out.

The closer Sasuke got to the prison cells, the worse the feeling in his gut became. What if the scream had been Hinata? "Shit." He muttered to himself, "You had better be okay, stupid."

Orochimaru barely blinked at the sound of the explosion, let his underlings take care of it. Nearly continuous giddy chuckles erupted from his chest as he pulled the knife from the unconscious Hyuga's left eye, leaving a wound that would surely blind her. "The byakugan," he said, "I will one day possess its power." He glared at Hinata with contempt. "You can have this eye to take with you to hell girl. After all, I'm afraid that I may have damaged it." He roughly shoved the girl to the floor and kicked her across the room.

The sanin turned and opened up the door of the cell. He held up his hand and all of his snakes flooded back to him. Then Kabuto's voice rang over the loudspeaker system. "Leaf shinobi… very interesting," he mused, turning and heading towards the east wing.

Sasuke crouched in a small, dimly lit side hallway and watched as Orochimaru passes, blood fresh and red staining his hands. After the man had turned the next four corners, Sasuke leapt from his hiding place and quietly stepped towards Hinata's cell.

The wooden door was open just a crack and Sasuke pulled out several shuriken, just to be safe. He wrenched the door open the rest of the way and light flooded into the room.

Quickly, red spinning eyes fell onto a body lying on the floor. Hair covered her face and blood was pooling around her head.

Hinata stirred, her breath coming in painful gulps as the fear of Orochimaru continued to wash over her. She sat up slowly, one hand latched tightly over her left eye. Green chakra began to glow in her palm.

The Uchiha stood in the doorway, watching her as she got to her feet and allowed her hand to fall limply at her side, fingers smeared with her own blood. Her good eye fell on him, and she blinked in confusion, "U-Uchiha-san?"

"What did Orochimaru do to you?" Sasuke asked, anger seeping into his voice.

Hinata shook her head and opened her left eye a crack. "I-I can't see. I used j-jutsu to dull the pain," she whispered, "And I… I think-k one of my ribs is… is b-broken." She took a step forward, and then another, then as she lifted her foot again, she stumbled and fell forward. She threw out her arms to protect herself from the hard stone floor, but instead her arms hit something slightly softer. Strong hands held her upright and an arm wrapped around her shoulder.

Sasuke steered the Hyuga into the hallway, and even though she stumbled, he kept her from falling. "I', going to get you out of here," he said.

The kunoichi's head shot up. She studied the side of Sasuke's face with her good eye. "Why…why d-do you care what happens t-to me?"

They came to a stop and Sasuke turned to face her. A blush spread across Hinata's face and she looked away. "I've told you before, you don't belong here Hinata," said Sasuke, and without another word he started walked west, pulling the bewildered girl behind him.

Sound ninja kept coming, the farther the group advanced, the more they met. Naruto growled and made handseal after handseal, "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Two shadow clones appeared and flanked Naruto as he advanced upon another sound ninja. He screamed and leapt onto the man's chest, his clones closely following him and grabbing the ninja's arms. The blonde knocked the sound ninja's head back into the stone floor. Another sound ninja leapt at Naruto, a knife raised, but was knocked to the ground by a swarm of insects.

The sound of metal clashing against metal echoed off of the cold stone walls. The screams of the wounded and battle cries rang out into the air.

Then, a voice rang out above the din. "Well, well. This is very interesting." Every person in the room stopped what they were doing and the sound ninja backed off to stand behind Orochimaru.

"Retreat, Now!" shouted one of the Konoha ANBU. Three more of the ANBU jumped up and tossed packets of smoke balls.

When the smoke cleared, the sound ninja could barely see the backs of the Konoha shinobi. "Go after them," said Orochimaru with a lazy wave of his hand. The ninja surged forward but the three in the front ran into an invisible wall.

"It's a barrier jutsu Orochimaru-sama!" shouted one.

The snake sanin snorted impatiently, "Well dispel it then! Must I tell you fools everything?"

Meanwhile, the Leaf Ninja had reached the exit. As they shot outside, all was quiet. "Damn it!" shouted Naruto, violently kicking a rock, "We could have taken that bastard!"

"According to my scans of the building, that hall is the only way to get to the other side of the village." Neji said.

Hana looked at Tsume, who gave a helpless shrug of her shoulders. "Orochimaru knows that we're here, it was just bad luck that he would be at the village right now," Tsume said, "We'll have to find somewhere to hunker down for a little while. There's no use in running blindly into a suicide mission."

Sasuke led Hinata down a hallway and stopped at the dead end. He felt around and pressed one brick in, a door opened up to their right.

They stepped through the door into a pitch black hallway, the door slammed shut behind them. Hinata took a deep breath and Sasuke unconsciously squeezed her shoulder to reassure her. The pair continued to tread onward until the darkness began to lift, and finally they emerged into a forest.

"I thought so," a voice came from behind the two.

Sasuke let go of Hinata and spun around, sharingan eyes spinning. A figure stepped out from behind a tree, white hair blowing in the breeze, the sun flashing off of his glasses. "Really Sasuke, you are too predictable," Kabuto sneered.

"So what are you going to do about it lap dog?" Sasuke glared at him.

Kabuto pulled out a kunai knife and boldly faced Sasuke. "Really, that's simple," he said, pushing his glasses farther up onto his nose, "I'm going to kill you. Orochimaru-sama doesn't realize that filth like you has no place near him!" With that, Kabuto lunged at Sasuke.

Jumping back, Sasuke allowed the first stage of the curse seal to appear on his skin. Then Kabuto was upon him again.

The two exchanged blows for a while, nothing but rhythmic punches, kicks, blocks and dodges. Then, Kabuto got around Sasuke's defenses and ran a glowing blue hand over his right shoulder.

Sasuke leapt into the air, landing on the branch of a tree. His right arm hung limp and useless at his side. "Damn it!" he hissed. Then, he closed his eyes and his second stage curse seal began to spread across his body. His skin darkened, his hair grew and changed color, and large, hand-like wings grew from his back.

Blue electricity began to form in the Uchiha's good hand. "Chidori!" he yelled as he leapt from the tree towards the sound ninja.

Kabuto stood his ground, throwing his chakra laced hands upward to meet Sasuke's jutsu.

The two collided with a flash and when the light died down, Sasuke and Kabuto were standing, hands gripped tightly together, fighting to push the other down. "Go. To. Hell!" Sasuke yelled, fighting to win with only one arm to Kabuto's two. Electricity sparked wildly in between the two dueling shinobi.

Suddenly, Kabuto's chakra flared, and with a yell, he flung the Uchiha to the ground. The energy around the sound ninja's hands visibly sharpened to form a kind of sword. He loomed over Sasuke, an evil smile on his lips. "You can't win Sasuke, not against me, not against your brother, and not against the devil himself!" he screamed wildly, spit flying from his lips. He brought his arm back. "Now die!"

"No," whispered Hinata, who was watching the battle from several yards away, "No." She got to her feet and pulled out a kunai, "NO! SASUKE!" she screamed, tackling the white haired sound ninja to the ground. The shoved the kunai blindly, and it made contact, sinking deep into the back of Kabuto's head.

Blood blossomed from the wound in Kabuto's head. "You took Shino-kun from me," whispered Hinata, her voice strong and clear, "But you can't have Sasuke. You just can't. The Hyuga girl's shoulders began to shake wildly and tears trickled down her cheeks.

Sasuke's second stage receded back into the mark on his neck, and he sat up. "Why did you..." he began to ask Hinata, but she interrupted him.

"Be-because you don't b-belong here either Sas-Sasuke," she said quietly as she stood, red spreading across her face as she offered her hand to the fallen Uchiha. He took her hand, and together the two began to walk away from the Village Hidden in the Sound.

Once the two had made it out of sight of the back exit of the village, Sasuke spoke. "There are Leaf Ninja attacking Orochimaru, they're most likely after you or I."

Hinata nodded and they turned to the east, heading for the front entrance. It didn't take them long before the great stone snake that guarded the entrance of the Sound to come into view. Sasuke and Hinata kept well out of sight and hunkered down into some bushes to watch the entrance.

When nobody emerged for five minutes, Hinata made a hand sign. "Byakugan," she whispered. She surveyed the village with her good eye. Then she turned her sight on the forest beyond. "There," she said. Sasuke turned in the direction she was pointing.

"The leaf ninja," she said.

The Uchiha eyed the trees, "Who are they?"

"F-five ANBU, Hana and… and Tsume Inu-Inuzuka," Hinata began, and then she gasped, "S-Shino-kun! He's alive! I-I t-thought he was d-dead!" Tears welled up in her eye.

Sasuke frowned, irritated for some unknown reason. "Is that all?" he asked.

"N-No. Naruto and N-Neji-sama are t-there too."

Sasuke looked at Hinata, studying her facial expression. "You should go now," he said, "Go back to the Leaf Village with them. With Aburame and Naruto."

Hinata looked up, "You're not going b-back?"

Shaking his head, Sasuke said, "I still have to accomplish my goal. Nothing is going to change that."

The Hyuga girl closed her eyes, and turned her face towards the sky; she took a deep breath. Then, the opened her eye and looked at Sasuke. "Th-then I w-won't…. I won't go b-back either," she said quietly.

"Don't be ridiculous Hyuga, you're hurt. Hell, you're not ever even going to see out of that eye ever again!" Sasuke whispered furiously, "You have to go back!"

Hinata looked into his eyes and, despite the blush forming in her cheeks, smiled. "I've made up my mind Sasuke," she said resolutely, "Where you g-go, I go." Then, her fingers trembling, she knotted both of her hands into the fabric of his shirt. She stared at the ground.

Sasuke froze; every part of him aware and shocked. He hesitantly picked up his arm and wrapped it around Hinata's trembling frame, pulling her to him. "Are you sure?" he asked, staring blankly off into the distance.

Hinata nodded against Sasuke's chest. Sasuke briefly pressed his lips to the top of Hinata's head, and then he stood, pulling her up with him. Her fingers were still intertwined with his shirt. "I promise you," he said, picking at her hands until she finally let go and allowed him to hold her hands in his, "I will always protect you."

Her eye watered and she bit her lip to keep from crying. She removed her forehead protector and bashed it against a stone, leaving a dent and several scratches scattering across it, distorting the image. She nodded to Sasuke, and the two leapt into the trees, and put the Sound Village, and the Leaf Ninja patrol behind them, for good.


	10. Epilogue

**Epilogue: A Message**

**Three Years Later**

Aburame Shino stood in the center of the old team 8 training grounds. A warm breeze blew across the clearing, the scent of new flowers coming with it.

Konoha had planned a second raid on the sound, after the first failed attempt, but of course when they had gotten there, the place was totally cleaned out. There had been no leads on Orochimaru, Sasuke, or Hinata since then.

He sighed and turned to leave. Above him, a bird shrieked.

Peering up at the sky, squinting, even behind his dark sunglasses, Shino saw a bird diving towards him, and he lifted his arm towards it.

The bird landed squarely on his outstretched arm and Shino could see a scroll tied around one of its legs, and an awkward package tied to the other, bound in brown paper. First, Shino opened the package.

He carefully infolded the brown paper and his heart began to bead wildly. Inside the package was a damaged Leaf Ninja forehead protector, the scratched and dented metal mounted on a dark blue piece of cloth. The name inscribed on the back read: Hyuga Hinata.

Quickly, Shino untied the scroll and opened it. There was a letter on it, written in squiggly cursive, scrawling, yet somehow still very neat and elegant. As he read the letter he found that his eyes began to itch, begging that he let tears fall, but he wouldn't allow it, Hinata wouldn't like that. No, she would want him to be happy; it was just her way, always wanting others to be happy.

_Dear Shino-kun,_

_First of all, please don't try and track this letter. The messenger bird was rented, and I assure you that we didn't leave any tracks behind us. We will already be far away by the time you get this. I'm lucky Sasuke even allowed me to send it in the first place._

_Shino-kun, I have so many things that I want to tell you, but there's just not enough time. I'll tell you that I'm well and that you don't need to worry any longer, because I can take care of myself, and if I mess up, then Sasuke will always be there to catch me. I'll tell you that a piece of my heart will always love you, Shino-kun, but I could never leave Sasuke's side, that's why I can't come back. Tell everybody that I miss them, especially Kiba-kun, Kurenai-sensei, and Naruto. And make sure my father knows that I apologize for dishonoring him. But I think that I've finally done the right thing, for myself, and for everybody else as well. _

_Goodbye, Shino-kun because I won't be writing you or anybody else again. Remember that I will never forget you, and that goodbye can't be the end. _

_Now and forever a missing-ninja, and always your friend,_

_Hyuga Hinata _


End file.
